Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-08-10


millions of souls in Heaven who knoz
Coronation" and "Antioch," +" and nNIoun
Pisgah," and stOld Hundred" The Ieade
of the eternal orchestra need only once ia,
his baton and all Heaven will ba readv fn
the hallelujah.
Cannot the soul sing? How often WI
compliment some exquisite singer by say
ing, 'There was so much soul in he
music" In Heaven it will be all soul unit
the body after while comes up in the res
direction and then there will be an addi
tional Heaven. Cannot the soul hear? I
it can hear, then it can hear music, D,
not, therefore, let it be in your household
when some member leaves for Heaven as i
is in some households, that you close tn,
piano and unstring the harp for two years
because the fingers that used to play or
them are still. We must remember tha
they have better instruments of musi,
where they are.
You ask me: "Do they have real harps
and real trumpets and real organs?" d.
not know. Some wiseacres say positively
there are no such things in heaven. I d.
not know, but should not be surprised il
the God who made all the mountains anG
| all the hills and all the forests and all the
metals of the earth and all the growths Of
| the universe-I should not be surprised il
He could, if He had mind to, make few
harps and trumpets and organs.
Grand old Haydn, sick and worn out
was carried for the last time into the music
hall and there he heard his own oratorio OF
the Creation" History says that as the
orchestra came to that famous passage.
'tLet there be lightE' the whole audience
rose and cheered, Haydn waved his hand
toward Heaven and said; sit comes from
there" Overwhelmed with his own music,
he was carried out in his chair, and as he
came to the door he spread his hand toward
tho orchestra as in benediction.
Haydn was right when he waved his hand
| toward heaven and said: fslt comes from
| there" Music was born in heaven and it
will ever have its highest throne in heaven;
| and want you to understand that our de-
parted friends who were passionately fond
of music here are now at the headquarters
OF harmony. think that the grand old
church tunes that died when your grand
fathers died have gone with them to heaven.
| Again, remark that those of our depart
ed Christian friends who in this world had
very strong military spirit are now in armies
celestial and out on bloodless battlefields.
There are hundreds of people born soldiers.
They cannot help it. They belong to regi-
ments in time of peace. They cannot hear
drum or fife without. trying to keep step
to the music. They are Christians, and
| when they fight they fight on the right side.
| Now when these, our Christian friends who
had natural and powerful military spirit, en-
| red Heaven they entered the celestialiarmy.
The door of Heaven hardly opens but
you hear military demonstration. David
| cried out: "The cha1iots of God are twenty
thousand" Elisha saw the mountains fill
ed with celestial cavalry. st. John said:
s-The armies which are in Heaven followed
him on white horses" Now, when those
who had the military spirit on earth sancti-
fed entered glory, suppose they right
away enlisted in some Heavenly campaign,
they volunteered right away. There must
needs be in Heaven soldiers with soldierly
spirit. There are grand parade days when
the King reviews the troops. There must
be armed escort sent out to bring up from
earth to Heaven those who were more than
conquerOrs. There must be crusades ever
being fitted out for some part of Gods do
minion-battles, bloodless, groanless, pain
less. Angels of evil to be fought down and
fought back. Other rebellious worlds to
be conquered. Worlds to be put to the
torch. Worlds to be saved. Worlds to be
demolished. Worlds to be sunk. Worlds
to be hoisted,
Beside that, in our own world there are
battles for the right and against the wrong
where we must have the heavenly military.
That is what keeps us Christian reformers
SO buoyant. So few good men against so
many bad men; so few churches against so
many grog shops; so few pure printing
presses against SO many polluted printing
presses; and yet we are buoyant and coura-
geous, because we know that while the
armies of evil in the world are larger in
numbers than the army of truth, there are
celestial cohorts the air fighting on our side.
have not so much faith in the army on
the ground as have in the army in the air.
| o God open our eyes that we may see
them. The military spirits that went up
from earth to join the military spirits be-
fore the throne--Joshua, and Caleb, and
Gideon, and David, and Samson, and the
hundreds of Christian warriors who on
earth fought with tieshly arm, and now
having gone up on high are coming down
the hills of Heaven ready to fight among
the invisibles. Yonder they are-.coming,
coming. Did you not hear them as they
swept by?
| But what are our mathematical friends tc
do in the next world? They found theil
joy and their delight in mathematics
There was more poetry for them in Euclid
than in John Milton. They were as pas
| sionately fond of mathematics as Plato
who wrote over his door: "Let no one
enter here who is not acquainted with
geometry" What are they doing now
They are busy with figures yet? No place
in all the universe like Heaven for figures
Numbers infinite, distances infinite, calcu
lations infinite. The didactic DIR. Dick
said he really thought that the redeemed
in Heaven spent some of their time will
the higher branches of mathematics.
Some of our transferred and transported
metaphysicians. What are they doing
now? Studying the human. mind, only
under better circumstances than they usec
to study it. They used to study the mint
sheathed in the dull human body. Nov
the spirit uDsheathed-now they are study
| ing the sword outside the scabbard. Have
you any doubt about what Sir William
Hamilton is doing in Heaven, or wha
Jonathan Edwards is doing in Heaven, o.
the multitudes on earth who had a passion
for metaphysics sanctifed by the grace O.
God? No difficulty in guessing Meta
physics, glorious metaphysics, everlasting
metaphysics.
What are our departed Christian friend.
who are explorers doing nowa Exploring
yet, but with lightning locomotion, witt
vision microscopic and telescope at the
same time. A continent at glance. A
world in second. A planetary system il
day. Christian John Franklin no more
in disabled Erebus pushing toward the
North Pole, Christian De Long no more
trying to free blockaded Jeanette from
the ice, Christian Livingstone no more
amid African malarias trying to make rove
lation of a dark continent; but all of them
in the twinkling of an eye taking in that
which was unapproachable. Mont Blanc
scaled without alpenstock. The cora
depths Of the ocean explored without div.
wing bell. The mountains unbarred and open
without Sir Humphrey Davy' safety lamp.
What are our departed friends who
found their chief joy in study doing now
Studying yet, but instead of a few thousand
volumes on few shelves, all the volumes
of the universe open before them-geologic,
ornithelogic, conchologic, botanic, astro
nomic, philosophic. No more need ol
Leyden-jars, or voltaic piles, or electric
| ha ~ or;oo cfapdino % fhnv do fooo fo 20 oe